Endless Online: Oblivion's Promise

by M. H. Johnson

  He felt a curious ache in his chest that had nothing to do with battles so recently fought when she dared to look up once more, her wide blue eyes now pinning his own, seas of wonder and mystery.

  Beside her sat a tiny dwarven girl and boy, playful chatter abandoned, gazing at Val with the same awe with which Val gazed at the young woman before him.

  Somehow, Val knew it was the same girl whose scream he had first heard.

  Val bowed his head, oddly ashamed of his mad flight of fancy, telling himself that he was just grateful to see them all safe.

  He moved not a muscle as she shyly approached, feeling her powerful hands caress his cheeks, not minding the feel of loam, the smell of earth at all as she gently tilted his head. He felt himself falling into her brilliant blue eyes.

  "You saved my life."

  Val swallowed, suddenly choked up, void of all words.

  "Why?" She seemed genuinely curious, gazing at him in fascination.

  Val swallowed, forcing himself to speak. "Because you needed help."

  She favored him with the strangest smile. "You were concerned about our well-being, when you have no blood tie to us, when you had no guarantee of return. You put your life in grave danger to save my own. I saw your injuries." Her fingers gently caressed his features. "And you suffer no blemish or injury now."

  Val swallowed. "No," he said. "No, I bear no scar."

  Her smile was brilliant. She nodded in approval. "Were you seeking to prove your worth? Do you desire a mate?"

  He blinked, falling to his rump in shock. Surprisingly, the pair of small children laughed just as human children would. Even the adult dwarves smiled.

  Val chuckled at himself, feeling a blush creep across his cheeks.

  The girl gave him her hand, helping him effortlessly to his feet. "My name is Ava," she said. "I thank you for my life. And for helping to protect the children under my care."

  Val nodded, looking for any topic to diffuse the hot flush of heat still coloring his cheeks, so intently was Ava gazing at him still. "They are not your children?" He asked at last. Clever one, Val.

  She gently shook her head, features solemn and sad. "The matrix chose them."

  The two older dwarves exchanged weighty glances, Ava sharing their look.

  "I fear it will soon be the end for us, if they are all we have the strength to bring back now."

  Val swallowed, sensing the weight of worry hovering over the small group. "Wait. Are you saying you five are all that's left of your people?"

  Hard blue eyes held his own. "We will persevere. We will endure. Til the very end."

  Val looked away, overwhelmed by the intensity of the elder's gaze. The sorrows he had endured, desperate hopes slowly crushed over grinding years as his city slowly died.

  Ava sighed. "Not so very long ago, our harvester could take care of the needs of many. Now, this precious source of life, all sustenance..." she swallowed, shaking her head. "We sacrificed vital drops to bring back our wisest, most potent elders, and all the matrix could return..." she gazed down at the two wide-eyed children before holding them close with a wordless hug.

  "Now we endure with the help of our mushroom chamber, and ever has it bloomed and nurtured us. Never before did we suffer incursions. Never before could any creature enter even that far into our pocket realm."

  Val blinked and swallowed, amazed at what had just been stated so offhandedly. Already knowing the truth of it, needing to understand further.

  "You can create pocket realms?"

  Ava smiled. "Our city was built by the best of us. It holds incredible potential, and was once capable of such wonders... before our enemies had caught us all utterly and completely off guard." She swallowed, looking down at our feet. "They offered no declaration, no terms... it's like they could peer into our very minds, even without our language, and know to strike on our most holy of all days."

  Ava shuddered, a single silver tear forming in the corner of her eye. "Their diplomats. They could... lie. Deceive. Do you understand? They spoke not the true language, like you do, so we could not measure their heart. Their intent." She gave the saddest of sighs and Val shook his head at the true depth of the Highlords' betrayal, even as another part of him wondered just how old Ava was.

  "We thought an intermediate language of approximations would suffice with the humans. How utterly wrong we were."

  Val's fingers stroked her cheek. Soft, unlined, free of blemish. She looked like a girl of twenty who just happened to be an Olympic weightlifter, and the anguish in her gaze tore at Val's heart. "I am sorry," he whispered. "So, so sorry."

  She gazed at him with surprise, solemn features melting into a warm smile. "You are a strange one, Val. Your heart glows like a husband's would, and you have known me for only a single day."

  She hugged him then, and Val wasn't the only one to gasp. "You aren't like the ones who betrayed my race, Val. How I burned with hatred and bitter tears before I was put in the long sleep, only to waken a few years back, duties and burdens heavy upon us all, and never did I think I would know a hero's sweetness. Thank you for my life, Val, bittersweet as it's become."

  Val squeezed her tightly back, shaking, humbled, beyond words at that moment.

  Smiling, Ava slowly withdrew, tilting her head curiously.

  "Val?"

  "Yes?"

  "Are you human?"

  Val swallowed, gazing down at his feet. "I don't know," he whispered. "I awoke from a vat of magic goop inside a sarcophagus, perhaps three days ago. I remember who I was, but even now I am forced to wonder, am I just the echo of a young man who was desperate to come to the rescue, any rescue? Am I still Val Hunter? Was I ever him? Or am I just a magical creation, catalyzed by Val's dying echo?" Val shuddered and swallowed. Then his gaze hardened with purpose.

  "I don't know for certain who I was or what I've become. I don't even know if I'm a man or just a construct that would fade to nothing, should I ever dare to leave this planet. But I've decided something, Ava. I'm going to be grateful for every breath I can take among the living, and I'm going to embrace each day with purpose, because whether I'm human, simulacrum, or just a pile of sentient goop, I'm going to be the person that a certain young boy had always dreamed of being. Someone worthy of this second chance at life, however fragile it might be."

  The elder dwarf, even now gazing fondly at Ava, nodded. "You have found us in our twilight, lad, minutes before eternal night." He sighed and Val looked away, the sights Val almost thought he saw in those hard eyes too much for him to bear. "If you could do us a service, to help us extend our twilight for however brief a time, to give the children among us hope of a few more years of peace, we would be grateful."

  Val didn't hesitate. "Of course. Whatever it is I can do. I can't speak for my friends, but if I can do something to help, I will."

  The elder dwarf nodded. "Thank you, young Valor Hunter. For your willingness to aid us in our time of peril, you have earned my name. Arilius Battleborn. Forged for wars of virtue and honor, of dignity and noble comportment that never did appear, our race instead near wiped out by one rabid wolf pack that despite its madness, knew just where to clench our jugular in the dead of night."

  The younger dwarf by his side nodded. "My name is Astmar Lastborn, and I will watch over the final hours of my race, guiding us all gently home when it is time."

  Val wanted to weep for the weight of the terrible burden he saw in the younger man's eyes. For all that his barrel chest looked capable of crushing Val near effortlessly, he clasped the man's thick wrist in his own, much to the dwarf's surprise.

  "Let's prove you wrong," Val whispered. "Perhaps it's not for you to watch the final hours of your race, but instead to witness a new dawn."

  Astmar blinked at those words before clenching brilliant white teeth wide in a smile. "You have a stout heart, Valor, and a fitting name."

  Val blinked, humbled to realize that it was true. Somehow his name translated perfectly between all three languages
. He bowed his head, knowing all too well how far he had fallen from the lofty demands of his own name.

  "But first thing's first, Valor. We would be grateful if you would consent to helping us rid our mushroom grove of any trace of those arachnids."

  Valor shivered, remembering the feel of terrible pincers foisting him up, covering him with hot sticky strands. He gave a quick nod, refusing to give in to fear. "I would be happy to."

  Quest accepted! Will You Save My People? I! The lost colony of dwarves you found are just a heartbeat away from extinction! How gracious of you to offer to clean out the bugs before your newest friends escape into final slumber. - Successful quest completions can affect the flow of events for a single individual, a community, or even the dying remnants of an entire civilization! Embracing such quests are likely to have an effect on you as well.

  Val swallowed, turning to the dwarves, noting their laser rifles. "Will you be joining us?"

  The eldest smiled. "Of course. But first, let us gather your friends."

  Before doing so, a shyly smiling Ava came up to Val, gently slipping a pin containing multiple twined leaves upon his attire, kitted as he now was in the same skintight purple tunic and slacks the male dwarves seemed to favor. "That will keep you safe from the sentinels."

  Val's eyes widened. "A few leaves?"

  She nodded solemnly. "Our ancestors were wise. They could never have predicted the betrayal we had suffered, but on the off chance a garden had insufficient power to mark new guests or tenders, the combination of these leaves will keep the sentinels from shooting you dead, so long as you are in the company of another dwarf."

  Val blinked before touching the hand carefully pinning the leaves. "Thank you."

  "You are welcome," she said, holding his gaze for an endless moment. Then she smiled and stepped back. "I will tend to the garden and children. Please return safe, Valor Hunter."

  Valor felt himself lost in the strangest of dazes as his companions led him back the way they came. Their de facto prison, actually a small outpost at the edge of the city by the main gate, was a good distance away from most of the patrolling sentinels and had been perhaps the only safe place for the dwarves to stow their guests.

  Sten's brows furrowed as Val explained the situation upon his return. "They expect us to hunt down those cursed spiders for them?"

  Val shrugged. "They will be joining us. It will certainly go a long way towards fostering good will."

  Sten flashed a humorless smile. "As good a reason as any. And they are giving us back our weaponry?"

  Val nodded. "I think they also modified them. It should work, no matter the magical fluctuations in any Elementium or other deposits we find.

  "Still doesn't keep your spells from frying us," Gregor noted, checking his blaster, eyes widening, pleased, it seemed, by whatever he saw. "Remarkable," he whispered at last.

  Val shrugged, hoping that the massive investment in points he had made would pay off. "Who knows? Maybe Elise's lessons actually stuck, after all."

  "Maybe," Gregor snorted, "but keep your distance. I'd really rather not be left defenseless again."

  Sten nodded. "Shield and saber, Val. We certainly don't want to annoy the dwarves any more than we already have by you frying out their weaponry. Unlike specters, our weaponry should work just find on horribly mutated bugs." He shrugged. "At least their colony saw fit to lend us a couple soldiers to help in the task."

  Val nodded, deciding not to argue the point, nor mention how few dwarves were really present, how vulnerable they were to a couple quick bursts of gunfire, and the dying remnants of a race would flicker out entirely, all their secrets ripe for plunder. Val really, really didn't want to put such temptation before a man he wanted to think of as a friend.

  "Alright, I think we're ready, Val. Let's head out."

  Almost before Val knew it, he was at the very spot where the monster spider had jumped him not long ago, grimacing in remembered pain as his most dangerous spell, Explosive Retribution, had fried the monster to a crisp even as he himself was lanced by fire. Perhaps sword and shield wasn't such a bad way to handle the next batch, after all. He slipped next to Halvar, however.

  "In case things go FUBAR and the swords can't hack through their chitin, give me a body length distance, and I'll do what I have to."

  Halvar's eyes widened, before favoring Val with a curt nod. "Getting a feel for control? Good. I don't even care how inhumanely fast you're learning arcane skills most scholars can't even fathom. You get results, Val, that's what counts."

  Val grimaced. "Here's to hoping I don't end up sent back to primary school when all is said and done here, lest I get laughed at by ten-year-olds for the rest of my life, my knack with fire aside."

  Halvar gave Val a consoling but not reassuring clap on his shoulder. "What will be will be, lad. Let's just focus on surviving our mission and earning ourselves a ticket to freedom."

  Val nodded, though his determination sprung from the desperate hopes of a dying clan far more than whatever bureaucratic nightmare or foster care limbo might await him above.

  A couple curt hand signs from Sten. He blinked and frowned, realizing Val was new to their group. Val surprised him, however, flashing a hand sign back. It was just another means of communication, after all, and if he had one cognitive gift here, it was instantly understanding the intent behind the words, and being able to communicate back in kind. As long as there was a mind doing the projecting.

  Val frowned, in that instant wondering if he could even understand what passed for entertainment here, or would it all sound like gibberish if he watched their equivalent of a movie? He suspected that only people he could see, who were thinking of him, would so easily be able to communicate with him. For that matter, if he were a pilot, would another communicating with his ship make sense to him? Was he actually learning the words the more he spoke with his fellows?

  "Val, focus!" Halvar snapped. "Daydream later."

  Val grimaced and nodded, getting a reassuring smile from Elise, her own arcane blade humming, edges glowing a blue he at least could see as the pair of them took the lead, tunneling through the circular silk strand covered hole that thankfully found no purchase on the soles of Val's dwarven made boots. His friend's boots weren't quite so versatile, Elise stumbling forward with a cry before Val caught her. She gave a grateful nod as he righted her back on her feet. Val was just happy she had the presence of mind not to cut him with her blade.

  "Val?"

  "Yes?"

  "Can you use Shadowmind now? Scout out their terrain?"

  Val grimaced. He should have thought of that himself, instead of drifting off on thoughts of language and his teammates.

  He took a deep breath, centering himself as the others entered the cavern, the humans among them now treading carefully around the thick bands of spider silk everywhere. Val could feel himself drifting, bleak thoughts of all he had done washing over him before horror turned to the coldest of smiles.

  It was time for the hunt. No matter that they were hideous spiders who could take down any of them unawares, it was time to show who was the predator and who the prey. And prey that thought it could hide in his shadows without consequence would be the first to fall to his blade.

  "Hai!" A huff more than a shout, projection of will and fury in one furious slash from high guard, Val pulling in the blade even as he slashed down, having flowed through the chamber and up to a nearby ledge with strange ease, ambushing a spider that was itself positioned to ambush any intruders who dared to enter their layer, Val's serrated saber lashing down with sheering force sufficient to cleave right through a sheep's carcass, having impressed one group of irregulars with just such a feat using one of their clan's scimitars in a test of manhood, what now seemed a lifetime ago.

  Saber strike for zero damage. Deathspider shell intact!

  Only to bounce harmlessly off a chitinous layer he now sensed was reinforced by a micro-thin matrix of Elementium and Altersian crystals. His stri
ke had been worthless. His foes alerted

  "Burn!" He shouted, feeling dreams of darkest shadow slip away as furious fire flared through him, survival instinct trumping orders that would only get him killed, dropping and rolling even as he sensed another spider spring with the last of his fading Psi-Sense, unable to keep Shadowmind up when his soul flared with magic.

  Dodge successful! Boosted Firestream hits for critical damage! Deathspider is critically wounded. Deathspider has perished! 24 mana spent.

  Damn, Val thought, even as shouts and cries filled the chamber, the cavern lit by flashes shimmering blue blades and laser fire. He was glad he was getting good enough with boosting that one spell that he didn't trigger a critical failure warning, but burning 24 mana when he only had 133 was not thinking tactically. At least his increased mastery of flame had cut the base spell cost a bit. He took a deep breath as he leaped upright, control first and foremost in his mind.

  "Val, look out!"

  He did not think, letting reflex take over to drop and roll off the ledge as a chittering creature soared overhead, imagining he could all but see venom dripping from the massive mandibles. Val's hand jutted out and washed the creature in fire every bit as hot as the first blast the moment he landed upon his feet, more graceful in the crucible of combat than he ever was when lost in his own thoughts.

  Boosted Firestream hits for severe damage. Deathspider's limbs are crippled! Deathspider in shock.

  Good, Val thought, heart pounding, now more concerned with seeing his foe a squirming mass of embers than anything else. He spun around, eyes instantly evaluating the battlefield, noting the pair of dwarves expertly laying down suppressive fire, Halvar joining their rhythm instinctively, all of them lancing near any spider that sprang, careful to avoid Elise and himself as they hunted down those hiding behind any cover, Sten and Gregor sniping as opportunity presented. Val found himself nodding in approval.

  It was nice to fight beside a unit that knew what it was doing again.

  "Val!"

  He didn't think, just acted, lancing out with yet another hot stream of fire as a pair of ambushing Deathspiders darted towards Elise, the rightmost one bursting in a flood of flames and burning liquid. Critical hit! Egglayer ruptured! Elise making short work of the other with a couple swings of her shimmering blade, the weapon having no problem slicing through the strangely reinforced chitin.